Drink by Ann Dowsett Johnston The Intimate Relationship Between Women and Alcohol

Award-winning Canadian journalist Johnston expands on her 14-part Toronto Star series on women and alcohol. [...] A compelling sociological study and memoir.
-Kirkus

Synopsis

In Drink: The Intimate Relationship Between Women and Alcohol, award-winning journalist Anne Dowsett Johnston combines in-depth research with her own personal story of recovery, and delivers a groundbreaking examination of a shocking yet little recognized epidemic threatening society today: the precipitous rise in risky drinking among women and girls.

With the feminist revolution, women have closed the gender gap in their professional and educational lives. They have also achieved equality with men in more troubling areas as well. In the U.S. alone, the rates of alcohol abuse among women have skyrocketed in the past decade. DUIs, “drunkorexia” (choosing to limit eating to consume greater quantities of alcohol), and health problems connected to drinking are all rising—a problem exacerbated by the alcohol industry itself.

Battling for women’s dollars and leisure time, corporations have developed marketing strategies and products targeted exclusively to women. Equally alarming is a recent CDC report showing a sharp rise in binge drinking, putting women and girls at further risk.

As she brilliantly weaves in-depth research, interviews with leading researchers, and the moving story of her own struggle with alcohol abuse, Johnston illuminates this startling epidemic, dissecting the psychological, social, and industry factors that have contributed to its rise, and exploring its long-lasting impact on our society and individual lives.

The winner of five National Magazine Awards, a Southam Fellowship, and the Atkinson Fellowship in Public Policy, Ann Dowsett Johnston is a writer, editor, public speaker, and public policy advocate. She was Editor at Large at Maclean's Magazine Canada, and Vice Principal at McGill University. Five years ago, wrestling with a growing drinking problem, Dowsett Johnston took a break from her professional life and went to rehab. She re-entered professional life in 2010, winning the prestigious Atkinson Fellowship in Public Policy, examining the closing gender gap in the world of risky drinking. The result was an 14-part series in Canada's largest newspaper, the Toronto Star-ample evidence that Dowsett Johnston was not alone. Five years sober, she now tells her story, along with a revealing investigation into the secret world of women and alcohol.